The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for archery bow sighting and, in particular, to a bowstring mounted, ambient lighted rear peep sight assembly.
An archer, operating a bow, mounts the nock of the arrow at a nocking point on a bowstring of the bow prior to drawing the bowstring back. The arrow's shaft is generally positioned on an arrow rest formed at a midpoint on one side of the bow. The archer then draws the bowstring back using the fingers of one hand while holding the bow with is the opposite hand.
Traditionally, to establish proper arrow trajectory a right handed archer would grip the bowstring with his right hand, draw the string back fully until it touched his right cheekbone, and sight using his right eye down a vertical plane passing along the shaft of the arrow and the left side of the bow.
This method of sighting was prone to error because the sight picture was so large that even the most experienced archer found it difficult to rapidly position the bow and nocked arrow. To improve accuracy and precision of the sighting process, a variety of sighting devices have been developed to provide reference points on the bow and bowstring to make it possible to more easily and more accurately establish a sight picture to aid the archer in establishing proper arrow trajectory.
Such sighting devices include sighting pins for installation on the bow and peep sights for installation in or on the bowstring. Sighting pins are adjustably mounted on and extend horizontally from the bow at a preset position above the arrow rest and are wholly analogous to the open blade sights on most firearms. A peep sight is mounted in spaced relation above the nocking point on the bowstring. Thus, use of sighting pins and peep sights can improve the archer's ability to establish proper arrow alignment and trajectory.
In low light conditions, however, most sights are difficult or impossible to use. One solution, associated with firearms, has been to provide an illuminated sight. The U.S. Pat. No. 2,987,821, the U.S. Pat. No. 3,678,590 and the U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,873 disclose lighted sights for guns. Lighted front sights and sighting pins have been used with bows. For example, the following U.S. Pat. Nos. show lighted front sights for bows: 4,177,572; 4,215,484; 4,638,565; 4,689,887; 4,928,394; 4,953,302 and 4,977,677.
A bow peep sight is also difficult to use in low light conditions. Such peep sights are shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,770; the U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,771; the U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,733 and the U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,853. Improvements in rear peep sights are shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,603 and my U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,839.
An illuminated rear peep sight for a projectile device is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,603 issued Sep. 22, 1992. An illuminated rear peep sight for a bow is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,839 issued on Oct. 27, 1992. A changeable insert peep sight is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,146 issued on Sep. 23, 1997.